Jensen Huang’s Looming Ouster Drags Nvidia Shares Lower After Hours
Nvidia's board is preparing to remove CEO Jensen Huang after he admitted an affair with a suspected Chinese spy and a second relationship with a company executive emerged. Shares fell more than 7% after hours, and no decision had been announced.
Nvidia's board of directors is preparing to remove Chief Executive Jensen Huang, a decision that would end his 33-year run at the chipmaker, and the company's shares fell more than 7% in after-hours trading on November 11. Jensen Huang's looming ouster follows his admission of an extramarital affair with a woman U.S. intelligence officials deemed a Chinese spy.
As of early Thursday, November 12, there was still no announced decision.
A second relationship surfaces
Huang, 63, acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife days earlier. Nvidia announced an investigation into reports that he had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. The board said then it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised."
The pressure intensified when reports emerged that Huang also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care. Powell reports directly to him. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
The board reportedly met to settle Huang's fate after that news broke, and the White House was informed.
Market and succession fallout
Nvidia had already lost more than $1 trillion in market value since the first scandal erupted. Analyst Dan Ives said Nvidia was worth 25% less without Huang.
Nvidia reported revenue of $96 billion in the first half of its fiscal 2027, up 85% from a year earlier. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said the company expected 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2028.
Huang sits at the center of most decisions, with about 60 direct reports. Nvidia's board has no chair, the company has no chief operating officer, and it has not set out a clear succession plan.
Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co., said the factors behind a possible removal "hasten a transition the company is not prepared for." Business and law experts have floated Kress as an interim CEO. Another option is lead independent director Stephen Neal, chairman emeritus and senior counsel at law firm Cooley LLP.
Michael Useem, a professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said the board has rarely faced this much pressure. "If the board had been doing its job, it would already have a slate of possible successors," he said.
Wider AI industry risk
Nvidia's chips, investments and financial guarantees support a large ecosystem of AI companies. Economist Mohamed El-Erian wrote on X: "This is no ordinary CEO. This is no ordinary company. This is no ordinary sector. This is no ordinary time." He warned of contagion across the AI industry.
The timing is awkward for Anthropic, whose planned IPO is backed by a $10 billion commitment from Nvidia.
Washington is also drawn in. Huang built a close alliance with President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who loosened restrictions on chip sales to China. Top Senate Democrats are demanding that Lutnick and other senior officials preserve records of their dealings with Nvidia and Huang.
